


akashi-kun, please stop

by tatapioca



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Crack, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatapioca/pseuds/tatapioca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>#1 Akashi becomes very fascinated by cat videos and tries to hide it.<br/>#2 Kuroko and Akashi are enemies because of a bunch of books, but still get along surprisingly well in one way or another.<br/>#3 In elementary school Kuroko befriends a new child, too bad that he will regret this very soon.<br/>#4 Akashi comes home from a business trip.</p><p>Various stories written for akakuroweek on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. cat obsession

Akashi wasn’t quite sure when this habit had begun, but he was certain it had something to do with Kuroko’s obsession to watch every animal show on TV that possibly existed. (Not that Akashi knew just how many were really out there, he had had never much interest in entertainment of that kind.)

Often Kuroko would stop whatever he was doing just to suddenly turn on the TV and ignore all of his surroundings. Every time Akashi tried talking to him, Kuroko paid no attention to him or just nodded, but it was obvious that he didn’t listen to a single word he was saying. Akashi quickly grew used to it and didn’t approach his boyfriend during these times anymore and joined him instead.

During the first few minutes he was confused. He saw nothing special about a bunch of puppies playing with each other and why Kuroko was so fascinated by it was beyond him. Surely Akashi didn’t hate animals, but to be so fond of watching them do things wasn’t something he could understand. Why did some animal that had no bond with you even matter? If he was watching videos of Yukimaru, that would be something different because the horse had always been with Akashi since he was born, but to see another horse would make him feel rather indifferent.

Akashi was about to get up to occupy himself with something more enjoyable, but just as he was taking a last look at the show Kuroko was watching, he saw something that he couldn’t take his eyes off.

He had told himself that he wouldn’t care, that it was completely pointless to watch a bunch of animals, but to see a cat putting its head into a plastic bag was surprisingly.. adorable. He didn’t know what it was that made that cat so different from the other animals, but he couldn’t bring himself to avert his gaze from it. What he was glad for was that Kuroko was too busy watching the cat meow pathetically when it couldn’t get its head out of the bag, so he didn’t notice how fascinated Akashi was by the animal.

How the cat moved, how it managed to look so graceful despite doing something as silly as getting stuck in a plastic bag, the way it meowed, all of that was adorable in Akashi’s eyes. He had always thought of cats to be more useful than dogs for example, since they were a lot less needy than a dog that wanted your attention all the time, but that Akashi would come to not even notice that he had just watched a cat doing things for a whole hour, that was surprising. Fortunately Kuroko still failed to notice how much Akashi got into it and when Kuroko looked at him, Akashi had put on a mask full of indifference on his face because like hell he would openly admit that he had liked watching any of that.

Maybe that could be excused, that it was only this one exception that Akashi liked watching animals, but that wasn’t the case.

It was during a long night full of reports, when Akashi decided that he deserved a break. Kuroko was fortunately sleeping already, so maybe… Akashi was hesistant, but typed an address into the bar of his browser anyway. Less than a minute later he had found what he needed and Akashi could feel all the tension and stress leaving his body.

He had played with the thought of watching this video for a while already. It had been two weeks since he had watched the cat on TV and the wish to see cats again had got stronger and stronger and now that he finally could do this again, he felt oddly satisfied. The video showed a bunch of cats trying to walk in snow and there was so much snow that they were barely able to move, yet they tried anyway. Akashi couldn’t help but be fond of them and before he could regain some of his self-control he watched another four videos, all of them being about cats.

No, he would not spend the whole night on this. Akashi wasn’t weak and would not give in to the desire to watch these balls of fur be adorable. He wasn’t a little child anymore after all. (Somehow, Akashi thought, he probably did deserve to have a bit more childhood now that he could, because his childhood hadn’t been what could be considered normal. But he dismissed that thought quickly, he was an adult, no matter how he looked at it, and he was far away from being childish.)

That’s how it really began.

From then on he would often take the chance and watch a few cat videos, of course only when Kuroko wasn’t home or sleeping. No one would ever guess that Akashi was the kind of person that smiled a lot and even made embarrassing noises sometimes while watching some cats playfully fight with each other and he would make sure that no one would ever find out. Especially not Kuroko. As much as Akashi loved his boyfriend, and he really did, and as much as he didn’t want to keep secrets from him, he was not willing to deal with the amount of teasing, once he would find out about Akashi’s little cat problem. Akashi knew that Kuroko would never spy on him or check what he was doing on his laptop, but he still felt paranoid nonetheless and made sure to always delete the browser’s history, so there was no way for Kuroko to ever know what Akashi was doing sometimes.

It’s not that he did anything bad anyway. He was faithful to Kuroko and loved him more than anyone else in his life, he simply didn’t want to give him any material for any possible teasing and Akashi was very aware of the fact that Kuroko would do that for sure.

One morning it happened though.

Kuroko had have a rough night last night (Kise had cried about something silly all night to Kuroko, Akashi didn’t even want to know more than that), so he was still sleeping, while Akashi was already up. Normally he didn’t get the chance to watch one of his beloved cat videos this early, but due to Kuroko still needing some sleep, now was a good time for it. Quickly he checked the channel of one of his favorite cats (a gorgeous red one that never failed to entertain him) and his heart started beating faster, when he saw that a new video had been uploaded. Not wanting to waste any time, Akashi clicked on it and no matter how many times he had seen cats being obsessed with boxes, he still loved it.

The video wasn’t very long, so Akashi was even more annoyed that he couldn’t watch it in peace. Someone was ringing the doorbell and he was actually expecting something important to be delivered, so he sighed and paused the video. This lovely cat had to wait for a bit longer.

Akashi got up to accept the package he had been waiting for, but little did he know that keeping his laptop open was a mistake and that Kuroko was awake and a bit too curious for his own, or rather Akashi’s, good.

Akashi almost froze, when he saw Kuroko sit on his laptop and when he heard the cat making noises, he knew it was over. That was it. His secret wasn’t a secret anymore and now he would have to suffer for it.

“Tetsuya.” He awkwardly said and put the package on the table. “I didn’t hear that you are awake.”

“Good morning to you too, Seijuurou-kun.” There was the small smile on Kuroko’s face that Akashi didn’t like. It wasn’t a normal smile, that was the smile of someone who knew that they had acquired dangerous knowledge to ruin someone else’s life and wasn’t too scared to take advantage of it.

“Before you jump to any conclusions,” Akashi began to talk once more and he could tell that his boyfriend was holding back his laughter, but chose to ignore it, “I didn’t watch that video because I wanted to. It’s for work.”

Even Akashi wouldn’t believe his own excuse, so he wasn’t surprised that Kuroko didn’t buy it.

“Seijuurou-kun. I am certain your company has no interest in cat videos.” He was about to make fun of him, Akashi could feel it and he wanted to run away and hide so badly. “Why don’t you admit that you like cats?”

“I do not–”

“Seijuurou-kun.” The way Kuroko said his name was all it took to silence Akashi and ashamed he looked to the ground.

“….Fine. Maybe I do like them a little bit.” Akashi was smart enough to know, when he had lost, so there was no need to make up any excuses anymore. Apparently it wasn’t enough for Kuroko.

“Seijuurou-kun, you don’t like them only a little bit. You subscribed to 30 different channels dedicated to cat videos.” This time Kuroko finally laughed and Akashi looked up to him again, feeling like a little child that had been caught doing something bad.

“It could be worse. 30 isn’t that much.”

“Seijuurou-kun, you are obsessed with cats.”

“I’m definitely not obsessed.”

Kuroko raised an eyebrow at that statement.

“Are you sure? Does Seijuurou-kun want me to search through his laptop to see how many pictures of cats you are hiding on it?”

“No!” Akashi almost yelled. He hadn’t meant to be loud or rush to his laptop to close it, but he was panicking and he couldn’t let Kuroko find even more blackmailing material. Kuroko laughed again and patted on the space next to him on the couch, so Akashi sat down and sighed.

“Don’t tell anyone, please. It’s…” Akashi tried his best to not hide his face in his hands. He felt humiliated enough already, he didn’t need to make it even worse.

With a lot of amusement Kuroko watched him for some moments, before he kissed Akashi’s cheek.

“Do you honestly think I didn’t know about this already?”

It was rare to make Akashi feel truly surprised, yet Kuroko still managed to do that in many ways.

“What did you just say?”

Akashi slowly started to dislike how often Kuroko had laughed about him in the span of a few minutes already.

“It was very obvious. You always seemed to be very interested whenever a cat was in TV and you aren’t as good at hiding your traces as you think. It was easy to find out that you are very fond of cats.”

He couldn’t help but groan this time when he heard Kuroko’s reply. Of course. Of course he should have known better than to try hiding anything from Kuroko. He always found out everything he wanted to know and even if Akashi was very skilled at as good as everything, Kuroko knew him well enough to see through everything.

For some moments there was silence and Akashi sighed again.

“It’s.. embarrassing, I know.”

“It’s not. It’s very cute that you care about animals too.”

“Cats.” Akashi corrected him. “I like cats. I still think it’s ridiculous that you spend so much time on watching your shows, nothing has changed about that.”

It was Kuroko’s turn to sigh.

“So you are one of these cat elitists who thinks that cats are better than any other kind of animals.”

“Well, Yukimaru–”

Kuroko silenced him with a kiss on his lips, obviously not wanting to hear another rant about how amazing his horse was and Akashi stayed silent even after the kiss, glad that he could bury his face in Kuroko’s shoulder and didn’t have to face him. Maybe there was something good about this, because he liked how Kuroko caressed his hair and deep down he didn’t hate being teased by him that much.

“I took a picture of you watching a cat video once, you know. I’m certain it would be fun to send it to everyone.”

“Tetsu-” Akashi immediately removed his head from the comfortable spot on Kuroko’s shoulder and glared at him, but his boyfriend had a pretty good weapon at this. He had quickly hit play on the video Akashi had meant to watch and hearing the cat meow was enough to make Akashi’s anger fade away and he couldn’t help but glance to the video.

Damn Kuroko and his dirty tricks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> akashi is definitely a cat person, fight me. (i actually have another fic about him and a cat halfway done already whOOPS)


	2. book fights

Kuroko had never thought that he would meet his biggest enemy in the library. A library wasn’t a place to come across someone like that and yet it had happened to him. Though he had to admit that this person wasn’t only an enemy to him. Strangely enough, that enemy was also one of the very few, if not only person, he could talk to about the books he liked.

Too bad that this didn’t help and as much as Kuroko could sometimes enjoy his company, when he saw Akashi sitting at a desk in the library with a smug expression on his face, he was reminded yet again why he couldn’t stand him at times. It was painfully obvious that he was aware how much it pissed Kuroko off that he had got his hands on the book that Kuroko had wanted to get all day already first.

“Oh? Could it be you also wanted to read this one?“ Akashi asked in a completely fake innocent voice that it made Kuroko want to rip the book out of his hand and smash it into his face, but they were both adults, so this wouldn’t be very appropriate and Kuroko had manners. No matter how much he was provoked, he would never act in such an impulsive way and he wasn’t violent either. His parents had raised him better than that, but thinking about it was still pleasing regardless of how he would never actually do that.

”..that’s correct, Akashi-kun.“ Kuroko replied and suppressed the urge to sigh.

It wasn’t as if this was the first time that this was happening. Their ‘war’ was going on for a few months already and neither of them had ever managed to win for a longer period of time. Before they had even ever seen each other, they had been enemies already. Week after week Kuroko had tried borrowing books and often it hadn’t worked out as he had wished it to because someone else had been faster than him. For some time Kuroko had believed he was having an unlucky phase and hadn’t wasted too much thoughts on it because it was very much possible and realistic that many other people liked the same books he liked, but when a librarian had commented one day how funny it was that it was always Kuroko and some other person who always wanted to read the same kind of literature, that’s when Kuroko had realized that he had a rival.

For weeks Kuroko had tried to imagine what that stranger might be like, but the image in his head became more and more annoying thanks to all the frustration he felt whenever he had to leave the library with empty hands. Surely he could compliment that unknown person on their good taste, but that didn’t change how annoying it was to always have to wait for his beloved books much longer and that bothered Kuroko.

It had only been coincidence that he and Akashi had arrived at the library at the same time one day and apparently Akashi was also aware that only one other person always wanted the same books as him and it had been hatred at first sight, when he and Kuroko had reached out for the same book at the same time.

Their relationship had changed quite a lot since then. There were still times when they despised each other and they definitely were still enemies when it came to borrowing books, but there was also something else between them, something Kuroko didn’t quite want to put into words.

When Kuroko’s mind went back to the present the stupid smug expression was still on Akashi’s face and Kuroko raised an eyebrow as Akashi patted on the chair next to him.

“Fortunately for you, I have some time to stay today, so I was planning to begin reading it here. How about you join me, Tetsuya? This way you will be able to get a first impression of the book and can finish it, once I am done with it.“

Kuroko wanted to decline the offer, say that nothing was worse than starting a book and not being able to finish it, but the temptation was too strong. Even if he had to read it together with Akashi, he had waited so long for it and as much as he would hate himself for this afterwards, he accepted and sat down. He was a bit wary of Akashi, wondering if there wasn’t more behind it, but he wasn’t doing anything unusual and he stayed silent when they were both reading.

…Actually Kuroko didn’t even expect him to do anything. Surely Akashi liked to tease him whenever he got a book first, but he was very pleasant company aside from that and Kuroko wasn’t that innocent either, after all he always did the same when he got to read something before him. He didn’t even hate him that much anymore like he used to before he had even known that Akashi was the one who often borrowed a book Kuroko really wanted.

That didn’t mean that Akashi didn’t annoy him anymore. They could barely ever agree on anything and sometimes he had views that made Kuroko cringe so hard that he was still thinking about it days later.

“I wasn’t done with that page yet.“ Kuroko said quietly, when Akashi moved on to the next page way too fast.

Akashi glanced at him for a moment, before his attention wandered back to the book.

"You can read it properly when it’s your turn to borrow it. Read faster.“

He was enjoying this.

Akashi was definitely enjoying this. Making Kuroko suffer like this and damn him for knowing Kuroko well enough by now to know what made him mad the most. He wanted to read this book so badly and as soon as he got the chance to at least read parts of it, Akashi took it away from him again. He would have to pay for this. Kuroko wouldn’t just let Akashi do what he wanted to.

He remained silent for a while, still leaning close enough to him so he could read too, but Kuroko was mostly busy with coming up with a plan to make him suffer a bit too.

The book was his for now. Kuroko couldn’t change that. But there were ways to distract him at least, to steal his time and annoy him like this. It wasn’t the best plan Kuroko had and it wasn’t only to get on Akashi’s nerves to be honest… But that didn’t matter.

Kuroko waited for a few minutes longer, wanting Akashi to feel as safe as possible before he started his attack. He didn’t seem to expect it at all that Kuroko put his hand on his thigh, just keeping it there and not doing anything else. Akashi wasn’t even looking at him and chose to act like nothing happened instead, but Kuroko knew that it affected him.

Just as Akashi was about to relax, Kuroko started moving his hand up and down his thigh and despite the fabric, he could tell that Akashi had very nice muscles. Maybe he had to ask Akashi one day what kind of sports he was doing because despite how much he wanted to act that he couldn’t stand him right now, Akashi was very attractive.

"We are in a library, Tetsuya.“ He muttered and Kuroko only looked at him innocently.

"I know where we are. I’m not stupid.“

Ah, but that wasn’t enough. Kuroko leaned even closer to Akashi, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

"But it is very kind of you to point that out. Thank you, Akashi-kun.“ He was almost purring his name and Akashi looked a bit nervous. Good. Another kiss placed on his neck made it even better and Kuroko almost had to laugh when Akashi tried so hard to look unaffected and serious.

"What do you think you are doing?“ Akashi wanted to know, still pretending he was reading, but that wasn’t true. Akashi hadn’t flipped to the next page, when he normally already would have done that.

"I’m only thanking Akashi-kun for pointing out that we are in a library. That was very thoughtful of you.“

This time Akashi was glaring at him, but Kuroko knew it wasn’t because of his words. It was only to be expected that he would react this way to being touched by Kuroko and it was exactly what he had been aiming for. Their relationship was.. special after all.

They hadn’t stayed as only acquaintances for too long, but they couldn’t be considered close to each other either. They barely knew much about each other and yet Kuroko felt as if he saw many sides of Akashi that people who actually were close to him never got to see. He might not know about Akashi’s daily life, but he knew all about his views on the world thanks to countless discussions they had about books. He knew which kind of stories he liked and which he disliked or what kind of motives behind people’s actions that he saw as acceptable and which ones were ridiculous to him. Kuroko also knew what Akashi looked like when he was genuinely happy, how his eyes softened and how he allowed himself to actually smile. In the beginning Kuroko had also only got to see the fake polite smile Akashi presented to everyone, but Kuroko preferred his real smile so much more. Not that he was arrogant enough to believe that he was the only one who got to see it, but from what he knew about him, he was fairly certain that Akashi usually almost always had his guard up and didn’t let people see his true emotions that easily.

Kuroko started to believe that perhaps he was very similar to himself actually. He and Akashi were different in many ways, but it seemed that both of them used the library as escape to let their masks fall just for a little bit. It didn’t mean that either of them started crying in a corner over a book. No, emotional outbursts wouldn’t fit them. Not Kuroko and certainly not Akashi. But Kuroko saw how much more life was in Akashi’s eyes when he was excited for a book, when he read one and enjoyed it, when he discussed the contents with Kuroko. Everything felt more genuine and he noticed quickly how tense Akashi was whenever he was about to leave the building, as if he was carefully putting the walls around himself up again and only let them fall again in the safety of the library.

They had some special connection to each other, that much was certain and Akashi apparently felt the same way about it or else he wouldn’t have invited him to his private library one day. Mostly the reason for that had been to show it off and why he even had to use a public one was beyond Kuroko. He was convinced he was only doing it to make him angry. (Kuroko knew that it was very childish to think that and that Akashi certainly had other reasons.)

It was hard to remember what had happened next and it was only a blur in Kuroko’s memory, but he could recall very clearly that they had started arguing about something rather silly like they often did when their views clashed, and the next thing Kuroko knew was that Akashi had pressed him against a wall and kissed him over and over again, barely giving him time to breathe and the strangest thing was that Kuroko not even once had felt like pushing him away. Instead he had replied to the hungry kisses, as if it was natural for them to do that and like it never had been any different. They hadn’t said a word to each other afterwards and neither of them had ever brought it up, but it wasn’t only that one time that it had happened.

From then on their heated discussions often ended up the same way. One of them would kiss the other and for minutes they would be lost in their own world, clinging to each other and forgetting about everything else which resulted in them not remembering anymore what they had even argued about.

It was enjoyable, definitely. Kuroko had felt a bit ashamed about their making out sessions at first, especially when it had stopped only being kissing and they also had started touching each other in some ways. They weren’t dating after all and wasn’t it wrong to act like this with someone who was only an acquaintance? Maybe to some other people it was normal to do that, but Kuroko had never felt the urge to behave the same way. Never had he felt so attracted to someone in such a short amount of time and never had he actually felt like he needed physical closeness to someone else. But with Akashi many things were different. Everything was new and exciting and no matter how often they kissed, it never was boring. It was always out of tension between them that they didn’t know how else to handle that they ended up kissing, never out of love.

Kuroko was attracted to Akashi, he couldn’t deny that, but he wasn’t in love with him. Not yet at least. But he was sure that it was only a matter of time that he would fall for him completely, but til then he would enjoy whatever they had right now and worry about what would become of them later.

For now all Kuroko had to do was getting on Akashi’s nerves for daring to snatch the book he wanted away from him.

"You can’t do this here.“ Akashi tried to scold him, when Kuroko wouldn’t let go of his neck and kept on kissing him. Soon he also started using his teeth to leave his marks there. Certainly it would be funny, if he were able to make Akashi let out some embarrassing noises. Unfortunately that didn’t work and Akashi had too much self-control for that, but the way he was trying to glare at Kuroko was entertaining enough. All of this was Akashi’s own fault anyway. If he was acting like an ass just because he had arrived in the library first to steal the book Kuroko had wanted, then he would have to be punished for it.

"I think you are wrong because I’m doing this right now, so I actually can do it.“ Kuroko teased him with a small pleased smile on his lips. Of course he was making sure that no one would notice what he was doing because the last thing he wanted was for other people to know about anything that was going on between him and Akashi.

"Tetsuya, st-”

“Would Akashi-kun like it, if we would do more than only this?“ Kuroko whispered into his ear instead and smiled when he didn’t say anything. "We could have so much fun together, Akashi-kun.“

Akashi was breathing a bit harder and he definitely was affected by Kuroko’s words.  He probably thought they would end up going to his private library again to have some privacy, so they could give in and do what they really wanted to do. Kuroko had to admit that it was tempting to do exactly that because it had been a while since they had that kind of fun and making out with Akashi was a good way to release all the frustration he felt, but he had other plans. Giving Akashi what he wanted wasn’t what Kuroko meant to accomplish by teasing him after all, all he wanted was for him to desire to be alone with him again just to give him the exact opposite of that.

"I apologize. I have something important to do right now, so see you, Akashi-kun.“

The expression on Akashi’s face was priceless and all he could do was stutter a confused "Tetsuya?“, when Kuroko suddenly got up and left the library. Two could play the same game and if Akashi honestly thought that he could tease him with a book, then he really needed to get better at finding ways to make Kuroko weak because Kuroko was winning and he loved every second of it. Even the best book couldn’t compare to defeating Akashi and letting him sit there like a lost dog that had got to see a threat it really wanted, just to have it snatched away the next second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was originally written months ago already.... but what is actually publishing stories haha...


	3. neigh with me, kuroko.

It was on an ordinary Monday when a transfer student joined Kuroko’s class. There had been rumours about that happening the week before already and all his classmates were excited about it, while he was rather indifferent about it. Sure, he was a bit curious too about what that new student might be like, but his mind wasn’t as focused on it as everyone else’s seemed to be. Kuroko could only silently hope that this new child liked attention because he would feel bad, if that student was more like him and disliked it. His classmates could be very overwhelming and it made Kuroko actually glad that he was barely noticed by them because whenever they did they were very surprised, almost scared even and Kuroko didn’t want to scare people.

When the new student introduced himself, Kuroko could sense that something was odd about him, but he wasn’t sure what exactly he was. Akashi, that was the name of the boy, appeared completely normal, but Kuroko was still unable to shake that feeling off. Maybe it was because he seemed to be a lot more serious than most other children of their age, something Kuroko was a bit happy about because having another loud voice added to those of his classmates would be a bit troublesome. Especially troublesome because Akashi was supposed to sit next to Kuroko and he really didn’t want to be interrupted all the time. He liked learning about new things and someone trying to distract him from classes all the time sounded annoying.

To Kuroko’s surprise Akashi didn’t even flinch when he quietly said hello to him. He had already been prepared to get called a ghost again and that everyone’s attention would suddenly be on him once Akashi was screaming out of surprise like everyone else who met him for the first time tended to do, but Akashi only greeted him back while smiling politely and that was it.

Kuroko began to wonder if maybe more people were out there who could notice him immediately and didn’t need to be reminded of him existing all the time and perhaps he had simply not found them yet. It was a nice thought, to have some friends one day that payed attention to them. He only had very few and even they had trouble seeing him sometimes and while it could be often amusing, it also made him feel lonely.

Maybe Akashi could become his friend? He might feel lonely too because he didn’t know anyone yet, so it would be a good chance to talk to him and see if they could get along. But Kuroko wanted to wait with approaching him for a bit, at least for today, because he already knew that plenty of his classmates would drown Akashi in questions and Kuroko didn’t want to bother him too and give him some space.

It was then that Kuroko was surprised for the second time on that day.

Somehow Akashi had managed it to quickly shake all his way too loud classmates off and they left him alone after some minutes. Kuroko had been busy reading in one of his new books, so he hadn’t noticed everything Akashi had said, but apparently he had only needed a few words to make everyone respect him and listen to his wish to not ask too many things because he was feeling tired today, and Kuroko thought it was amazing how easily he had managed to do that.

Kuroko noticed how Akashi also took a book out and his eyes became a bit wider. Akashi liked reading too? It would give them something to talk about and Kuroko had wondered anyway what to say to him to start a conversation whenever he would try to befriend him.

“You like books too?” He asked before he could even think about it and he wanted to apologize for disturbing him already, but Akashi was already looking at him and his face didn’t show any sign of annoyance.

“Kuroko, right?” Akashi said softly and Kuroko nodded. “Yes, I do like books. This one is about a horse.” He pointed at the book he was holding and Kuroko nodded once again.

“Horses are nice. Do you like them a lot?” Kuroko wanted to hit himself for being so awkward and not being able to make this conversation more interesting, but Akashi didn’t seem to be bored by it at all.

“I do. Horses are my favorite animals.”

Kuroko nodded politely once more and that’s when their little small talk started to become weird. There was no chance for Kuroko to even get to say anything for the next five minutes because Akashi felt the urge to give him a long explanation about why he liked horses so much and described in great detail how graceful and majestic they were and he mentioned that he even had his own horse. (Kuroko silently wondered what kind of child could have an own horse at that age and he figured Akashi’s family must be very wealthy.)

He looked so happy as he rambled about horses that Kuroko couldn’t even be annoyed by it and when Akashi apologized for saying so much, Kuroko reassured him that it was completely fine with him and that he enjoyed hearing his thoughts. Being new in a school was hard and Kuroko could imagine that Akashi was secretly very nervous about it, just as nervous as Kuroko had been on his first day of school, and Kuroko was glad that he could be there and help him to feel more comfortable.

It turned out that Akashi had a lot of confidence and nothing could make him nervous. He didn’t even shake a tiny bit when he had to solve something on the blackboard for the first time in front of class! He really was brave and Kuroko admired him for it. The first time he had to do the same, he had shaken badly due to being scared of making a mistake and be made fun of. It had gone well and most hadn’t even noticed him, so it hadn’t been a bad experience.

Soon enough Kuroko also noticed that Akashi was very smart. He never said anything wrong and he often helped others when they had troubles with the exercises they had to do. He often helped Kuroko too, though he never even voiced that he found a task difficult, but Akashi always noticed and his explanations were easy to understand. Kuroko was really glad that they sat next to each other.

Getting along with Akashi was easy and they often spend their lunch breaks together. Every day Akashi would bring a new book to school and show it to Kuroko and most of them were about horses in one way or another. Kuroko thought it was normal because Akashi liked horses a lot after all and he was very passionate about them. He still often started going on rants or told him about all the great horse races he had been to already and that he would take Kuroko to one too one day, if he wished for that. Kuroko tried to decline politely, saying that he wasn’t that interested into horses, but when he had only implied that, Akashi had pouted already, so Kuroko had changed his mind and quickly corrected himself and said that he would love to.

After two weeks Kuroko was sure he had learned more about horses than about anything else in his whole life.

Akashi kept on telling him more things, always softly smiling and his eyes sparkling with happiness, and Kuroko could never bring himself to confess that he would rather talk about something else. Akashi looked so happy and he didn’t want to make him upset, so he stayed silent and made some short comments to assure Akashi that he was still listening to him. Sometimes they talked about other things too, but usually Akashi managed to turn every conversation into a topic about his beloved horses.

He even already had names for all the horses he wanted to own one day!

“Four horses at least.” Akashi had said. “Four horses to represent the four seasons. Yukimaru is representing winter of course.”

Yukimaru was the horse he already owned and he always talked very proudly about it. One day he had brought a whole album with photos of Yukimaru to school once to show them to Kuroko and Kuroko was genuinely impressed by how easy it looked to sit on a horse when it was Akashi doing that. Akashi started telling him about how riding worked, how free he felt whenever he was on Yukimaru and he offered him to teach him riding one day too. Kuroko was a bit scared of sitting on such a big animal, but he agreed to it anyway. If Akashi was the one teaching him, then certainly it would be alright.

Kuroko had also figured that Akashi was a bit lonely too and that’s why he didn’t want to decline. Not even to mention that Akashi was his friend and he did like him a lot despite all the conversations about horses. He was actually quiet most of the time and didn’t force himself on Kuroko too much and it wasn’t his fault that he happened to like horses so much. He never talked about them with anyone else though from what Kuroko could tell and he actually didn’t talk to most other children either, except to help them out or to make them go silent when they were too loud.

Everyone respected him, but as good as no one aside from Kuroko was his friend. Akashi didn’t seem to be affected by it and never looked sad about it and he had never implied anything like that either, but Kuroko still wondered sometimes why Akashi treated him so special and liked him so much more than everyone else. He never had been this special to someone aside from his parents and grandmother and it made Kuroko feel all warm and happy. He treasured Akashi very much too and it was nice that the feeling was mutual.

They started to spend more and more time together outside of school, at least whenever Akashi had time for it because he had a lot of duties, which Kuroko never understood because they were children and children were supposed to have fun and play a lot and not do whatever Akashi was doing, but he never complained about it.

Akashi actually really tried to teach Kuroko how to ride during one weekend and Kuroko’s body had never hurt this badly before. As expected Kuroko had felt scared when he stood in front of the big animal, but his friend had reassured him that the horse wouldn’t try to harm him and he had taken Kuroko’s hand and carefully placed it on the horse’s head. Its fur felt soft and Kuroko caressed it hesitantly. Fortunately the horse hadn’t been angry about it and Kuroko started to feel a bit more confident. Before he was allowed to sit on one by himself, Akashi showed him how riding worked first and got on Yukimaru. Seeing him ride was a lot more amazing than only seeing pictures of it and it didn’t look that difficult.

Kuroko had been wrong.

It was difficult and he was glad that he had survived that. Akashi often had to correct him, give him advices so he didn’t fall off the horse (not that Akashi would ever let that happen, he had promised him that), bt he also praised him whenever he got something right.

Still, Kuroko didn’t plan to sit on one again anytime soon. It was scary and he didn’t think he would ever enjoy it as much as Akashi did. Akashi understood that, but he was still proud of him for at least trying it out and Kuroko blushed a bit because it was unusual for Akashi to praise him so much.

Since riding was out of question for Kuroko, they spent their time with something else. Horses were still often a big part of it because Akashi would often show Kuroko new horse movies and his horse collection. He had all kind of things like posters and stickers and there was even a picture of a horse on one of his pyjamas.

His horse obsession was so bad that Kuroko started dreaming about horses. They kept appearing, no matter how much Kuroko tried to think of something else and often Akashi was in his dream too. The weirdest one was the dream in which Akashi invited Kuroko to his wedding with Yukimaru and Kuroko had asked Akashi the next day if he planned to get to anyone because it had scared him so much.

“The only person I would marry is you, Kuroko.” Akashi had laughed and Kuroko had blushed and told Akashi to stop being so silly and that his jokes weren’t funny at all. Every time Akashi tried to joke, it was terrible and he had no idea how someone this smart could be so bad at making jokes, but Kuroko’s sense of humor was apparently strange too, so who was he to judge his friend.

Then for a whole week Akashi only barely mentioned his favorite topic and Kuroko started wondering if he wasn’t feeling well. That wasn’t the case though because during lunch break on the next Monday, Akashi told him why he had avoided it lately.

“I have been thinking about something amazing.” He declared and Kuroko tilted his head, telling Akashi to keep on talking. “Wouldn’t it be great if one of us was a centaur?”

“A.. centaur?” Kuroko softly asked and Akashi nodded.

“Yes, a centaur. If you were one, I could ride on you every day and we could do so many wonderful things together. Would you like to be a centaur, Kuroko?”

Being asked if he wanted to be half human and half horse was something Kuroko never expected to happen.

“I.. don’t think so.” He mumbled, not sure how to feel about this and Akashi sighed, but a smile was still on his face.

“Well, that’s alright. Because I can always be the centaur and you could ride on me. I know riding isn’t something you particularly like, but it would certainly be different with me than with a horse. You would be able to talk to me all the time and I would definitely never scare you.”

“That sounds nice I suppose.” Kuroko wasn’t sure what else to say about that, so he could only hope Akashi would lead their conversation like he almost always did.

“It really would be nice. If I study hard, maybe I can figure out a way so this can happen for real. It may sound childish, but perhaps it will be possible one day. I would love to be a centaur and feel closer to horses than I already do. I would also love to have you on top of me, so I can relate more to how Yukimaru feels whenever I am on his back.”

Kuroko silently crossed everything he had learned about Akashi out of his mind.

Akashi wasn’t smart, he was a complete idiot. He might be able to fool everyone else, but Kuroko knew he was stupid.

“Akashi-kun.” Kuroko sighed. “I don’t think that can work.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“…Please don’t take this as challenge, thank you.”

Akashi didn’t reply, but Kuroko had a bad feeling about it and when Akashi gave him a picture of Kuroko as centaur as present the next day, Kuroko knew he had been right about this feeling. What kind of person drew a picture of his friend as centaur and gave it to that friend?

Akashi was so weird.

(Fortunately his horse phase didn’t last for as long as Kuroko feared and whenever Kuroko would bring it up and tease Akashi for being so obsessed with horses, he would only tell him to shut up and then proceed to sulk silently all day long.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS NEVER PLANNED AT ALL AND WAS WRITTEN FOR JAR BECAUSE SHE IS VERY THIRSTY FOR CENTAUR AUS AND NO ONE EVER GIVES HER ENOUGH OF THE FICS SHE NEEDS AND WANTS neither do i but we gotta fight evil akashism and make akashi look as pathetic as possible. may kurokoism save us all.


	4. coming home

Returning home after a business trip to find Kuroko sleeping on the couch wasn’t outside of Akashi’s expectations. No matter how much he had told Kuroko to not wait for him and that he will be home late at night and that he should better get his sleep, he knew that he wouldn’t listen to him and insist on being awake to welcome him home.

As much as he had wished for his partner to sleep for his own good, a part of Akashi was happy about Kuroko’s gesture and it felt nice to be so treasured by him that he sacrificed his sleep just to greet him. Akashi would never dare to pretend to not be selfish because that was a lie. Selfishness was a part of human nature, so of course the sight of Kuroko sitting asleep on the couch pleased him in some way.

It did look rather uncomfortable though and certainly Akashi wouldn’t let him stay where he was. He cowered down just enough to be able to press a kiss on Kuroko’s forehead and mumbled, “I’m home.” He had actually planned to only silently pick Kuroko up and carry him to their bedroom, but he was unable to resist. A moment later Kuroko’s eyes fluttered open.

“Seijuurou-kun..” Kuroko’s voice was barely above a whisper and the way he weakly smiled at Akashi made his heart beat a little faster. (It was ridiculous how much small things Kuroko did could still affect him despite being in a relationship with him for years already.)

“I told you to sleep.” It should have sounded like scolding, but Akashi couldn’t bring himself to be seriously mad at him anyway and kissing his forehead again was also far away from lecturing him.

Kuroko didn’t say a word and it was very obvious how hard he was trying to at least keep his eyes open. Really, he could be such an idiot.

“Let’s go to bed.” Akashi suggested and Kuroko nodded. The next thing he knew was that Kuroko had wrapped his arms around Akashi’s neck and pulled him closer.

“I missed you.” He mumbled and Akashi almost had to laugh about how sleepy he sounded.

“I missed you too.”

No more words needed to be said and both of them remained silent, when Akashi carefully carried Kuroko to their bedroom and placed him on their bed. The way Kuroko instinctively rolled on Akashi’s half of the bed and buried his face in his pillow was oddly adorable and it made Akashi wonder how often he had secretly slept on his side of the bed.

“Tetsuya, that’s my pillow.”

“Don’t care.” Kuroko didn’t even look up as he said that and it surprised Akashi that he was still awake. It was very late already after all.

The temptation to just lie down next to him was big, but the clothes Akashi was currently wearing weren’t exactly fitting for sleep and he would not be weak and give in, so he quickly changed into something more fitting before joining Kuroko. There was no reaction from him when he did so, so Akashi assumed that he had finally fallen asleep.

Carefully he wrapped his arms around Kuroko’s waist and waited to see if it would wake him up, but that was not the case. It was exactly the reaction, or lack thereof, that Akashi had wanted and he pulled Kuroko closer to his chest, breathing deeply in and out before he buried his nose in his hair. He really had missed this, had missed him and it reminded him yet again of how attached he was to Kuroko. He was able to live without him, but he always felt more at peace and relaxed in his presence. No matter how soft a bed in a hotel could be, it would never be close to feel as comfortable as holding Kuroko felt.

Feeling his body’s warmth also made Akashi very sleepy and he placed a kiss on Kuroko’s head. Akashi would have never thought that he would ever enjoy showing his affection so much or that anything that meant physical closeness wouldn’t disgust him and make him uneasy, but with Kuroko it was all so simple.

Their relationship was overall very peaceful. They had their disagreements, but it was rare that it turned into a fight. Both of them had accepted how different their views could be long ago and they knew each other well enough to know all the flaws the other person had.

Akashi couldn’t ask for more than that, someone who pushed him to become a better person and never gave up on him, someone who accepted him fully as who he was. Kuroko was all that and so much more, but Akashi had never been the one in their relationship who was good with putting his emotions into words anyway.

All he knew was that he wanted to keep on waking up next to this person for many, many years more to come and that no one could make him smile more and make him feel so much happiness, that Akashi hadn’t believed to be possible, as Kuroko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just sth short and gay, what's better than your ship living together.

**Author's Note:**

> I already died when just writing these few stories, everyone who managed to actually upload something for every day has my respect. Maybe I will try more to write things I feel like sharing in public now, but who knows. Time to say bye to akakuro and hello to akahorse tbh (nah).
> 
> Title for this doesn't fit 100%, but it applies very much to the horse story and that's obviously the most quality one. im so tired, thx for reading.


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